If something is adjustable, sooner or later it will need adjusting–Max Frisch Along with six friends, I watched television footage of the crowds that cheered Chief James Ibori as he drove on the streets on his return home last week after his prison service in the United Kingdom. There was pronounced silence as we watched young and old struggle to catch a glimpse of the man. Like us, it was obvious that many in the crowds that followed his sport… Read more

If you don’t know when you have been spat on, it does not matter too much what else you think you know – Ruth Shays Northern governors last week attempted a feat the region had long jettisoned: bringing together its assets under one roof to count its strengths and weaknesses. The governors and senior officials went beyond the routine and ritual of periodically assembling for a few days in Kaduna, mostly to run away from begging and complaining citizens. This time,… Read more

The opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth – Niels Bohr In the space of a week, the expression of the people’s will to be governed by people they elect showed three different faces. Vastly different nations, political contexts and democratic systems in Nigeria, The Gambia and United States of America presented major variants of a system of governance that sends back many of its students to drawing boards. In Nigeria, a routine constitutional requirement that… Read more

Politics, a strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles - Ambrose Bierce All that needed to be said about the disappointments and achievements of year 2016 have been said. The government of President Muhammadu Buhari acknowledged that it had substantially under-performed, blaming factors which predated it, as well as new, unforeseen developments that adversely affected the economy and national security. It celebrated substantial progress in the fight against Boko Haram, and even a trickling of success in the return of… Read more

Like a chameleon: one eye on the future, one eye on the past – Malagasy proverb Professor Jibrin Ibrahim, the Friday back page columnist of the Daily Trust, wrote a preview contribution under the title, ‘2017 Trend Analysis and the Contours of Inertia’. In an Internet group we belong to, the respected law professor, Awwal Yadudu, took up Jibrin on his projection that the Shia issue could represent the major security problem in 2017 and on the value of projections… Read more

Events in Southern Kaduna are once again the focus of national attention and concern. Home to roughly one-fourth of a state that captures and reflects the basic essence of northern Nigeria, many of the residents in this area spent the Christmas in partial lockdown following days of protests and clashes. The tipping point were the attacks on the governor, his deputy and members of the State Security Council who had decided to hold a meeting in the largest town in… Read more

Do not follow a person you see running away - African proverb After weeks of attempts to ignore each other, they finally began to come to terms with the objective similarity of their conditions and circumstances. They were going nowhere. Not even a few feet away from each other. They could finally speak with each other, a significant progress from the silent struggle for space, fresh air, fights that no one separated, alliances that collapsed every few hours and the… Read more

Wise men speak because they have something to say. Fools because they have to say something –Plato In the last few weeks, voices raised over the administration’s management of the economy have become louder and more distinct. Those that sounded like political grudges around the management of the party or the President’s apparent decision to ignore calls for substantial overhaul of his key advisers and appointed public officials were no less shrill, but they have been largely treated as traditional… Read more

If the cockroach wants to rule over the chicken, it must hire the fox as a bodyguard –African proverb The concluded governorship elections in Ondo State have answered a few questions and raised a lot more. Let us first see off some of the answers. Please feel free to disagree. First, Ondo voters elected a good man on the platform of a party that, many warts and all, offers the best prospects for some returns, at least in the short… Read more

The only cure for grief is action–G.H. Lewis By the time you are reading this, the story behind the video showing the lynching and burning of a seven-year old Nigerian child for stealing garri would have assumed many versions, including some which will maintain that it was all a work of fiction. Whatever you believe, it is difficult to ignore the fact that adults filmed and posted a murder. There was no evidence of anyone among onlookers attempting to intervene.… Read more

If you close your eyes to facts, you will learn through accidents -African proverb There are times and occasions for prolonged grieving. For most of the world reeling from the shock of Donald Trump’s earth-shaking triumph, this is not one of them. Some people can afford deep introspection, some anger and even expressions of intentions to resist a legitimate process. These will be Americans, some of whose choice is still sinking in a world fundamentally influenced by the USA. The rest… Read more

A large chair does not make a king–African proverb The subject of this column was triggered by the impressive national turnout at the 10th year anniversary celebrations of the reign of Sultan Saad Abubakar III. This event lived up to expectations that it will provide a vast rally for leaders and politicians to identify with an institution many of them look at with a mixture of discomfort and awe. The Sultan’s first decade has been eventful, not so much because he… Read more

There are two ways of meeting difficulties: you alter the difficulties or you alter yourself meetingthem –Phillis Bottome The recent release of 21 of well over 200 abducted Chibok school girls has dramatically brought home the value of negotiation as a strategic option for nations such as ours dealing with conflicts. Reports suggest that this release is product of painstaking and patient negotiations, a process which encountered numerous false starts, setbacks, and quite possibly toxic doses of hostility and subversion from… Read more